THE PROWLERhttps://rchsprowler.com
The student news site of Rockbridge County High SchoolThu, 01 Nov 2018 19:21:06 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.8Salerno Scathed Againhttps://rchsprowler.com/opinion/2018/10/31/salerno-scathed-again/
https://rchsprowler.com/opinion/2018/10/31/salerno-scathed-again/#respondWed, 31 Oct 2018 15:59:39 +0000https://rchsprowler.com/?p=3500I have been preparing for this very moment for the last two years. Somehow, I always knew it would come back to this. There was just no shaking the feeling that something was after me. Following my every move. Waiting to strike when I least expect it.
That thing was my mortal enemy, Salerno Restaurant. I have been locked in a vicious feud with Salerno, dating back two years. It has been violent, bloody, and sexy.
It all started two years ago when I began my career as the most illustrious food critic in America with a scathing review of local eatery Salerno Restaurant. At the time, they were on the verge of going under. The food and atmosphere were terrible, the staff was unpleasant, and the dining room smelled like someone had poured milk onto a golden retriever and left it in the sun for a few hours. Without going into too much detail, it was awful.
Now, nearly two years later, I’ve heard filthy little rumors that Salerno has been changing. Making improvements. Growing stronger. Waiting for me.
When I decided to go back and give it another chance, I made sure that I went in with an open mind. I don’t want to be known as a negative reviewer who hates every restaurant. I want to spread positivity and joy with my reviews.
As I approached the outside of Salerno, the first change that I noticed was a sign directing me up a short flight of stairs to get some wood fired pizza. Wood fired pizza is new at this restaurant, and I was excited about the prospect of trying it.
When I went in, I was greeted by a smiling hostess telling me to have a seat wherever I would like. I chose an unassuming table in the back of the restaurant, as to not draw the attention of the staff.
Soon, a waitress came to my table and placed in front of me the largest menu I have ever seen in my life. I am not talking about a menu with a lot of different choices, I mean a physically enormous menu. It was as tall as a hobbit and as wide as a child’s smile on Christmas morning.
After surveying the road sign sized menu in front of me I looked the waitress in the eyes and told her exactly what I wanted.
“Babydoll,” I said. “I need you to give one piping hot pepperoni pie, and go ahead and toss in a sweet barbeque chicken pizza.”
She looked uncomfortable but wrote down my order and scurried off to the kitchen. I looked at my friends eating with me and told them to strap in for this wild ride.
Ten minutes later, the waitress came back with our food. The pizzas were only sold in one size, and I’d say it was a solid medium. After surveying the pizzas, I decided it was time to dig in.
First I picked a piece of the barbeque chicken pizza. I noticed after the first bite that there was something off about the pizza. There was a chalky black residue covering the bottom of the crust and the taste of char covered my mouth. It felt like I had dipped my tongue in my grandmother’s ashtray.
The toppings of the pizza did not impress me any more than the crust. Somehow, while the crust had been cooked under the heat of ten thousand fires, the toppings remained undercooked and cold. All in all, Salerno’s pizza was once again disappointing.
The one redeeming factor of the pit of despair known as Salerno is their all new arcade. Located in the old dining room beneath the current restaurant, the room is filled with classic arcade games. Although perhaps the restaurant should be focusing more on their food than on distracting me with shiny objects. That stopped working when my uncle’s keys got lodged in my throat.
I went in to Salerno hoping for the best. I gave them an honest second chance. I tried to be nice this time, but I just couldn’t. After round two with Salerno restaurant, it’s zero points for the pizza and two points for Brinson’s brutal reviews.
]]>https://rchsprowler.com/opinion/2018/10/31/salerno-scathed-again/feed/0‘Cats Clinch a Win at the Shenandoah Classichttps://rchsprowler.com/sports/2018/10/19/cats-clinch-a-win-at-the-shenandoah-classic/
https://rchsprowler.com/sports/2018/10/19/cats-clinch-a-win-at-the-shenandoah-classic/#respondFri, 19 Oct 2018 15:45:10 +0000https://rchsprowler.com/?p=3495The ‘Cats football team recently played at James Madison University’s stadium, where they defeated Turner Ashby in double-overtime with a final score of 35-28.

“It’s always a big deal to win a game, especially in the college stadium environment, and to win the way we won in double-overtime shows that our players are fighters,” said Coach Mark Poston.

The ‘Cats participated in the third annual Shenandoah Classic, where five valley matchups took place at Bridgeforth Stadium at JMU.

“The score shouldn’t have been as close as it was, but it was a great experience to play at JMU, especially compared to a normal high school field,” said Sophomore quarterback Ty Ruley.

The tournament took place over two days, on Sept. 28 and Sept. 29. On Friday night, Broadway lost 40-7 against Spotswood, and Stuarts Draft played against East Rockingham where they lost 41-2. Along with the Rockbridge and Turner Ashby game on Saturday, Robert E. Lee lost to Wilson Memorial 50-49, and Waynesboro lost to Harrisonburg 47-7.

“I think the Shenandoah Classic was handled very well, and it was an amazing experience, for not only our players, but also for other teams,” said Poston.

During the game, Ruley scored one touchdown; Junior Jailik Lynch scored two touchdowns; and Seniors Johnny Dunn and Andy Schmidt both scored one touchdown. Senior Derek Carter led the defense with three sacks and a deflected pass that sealed the victory for the ‘Cats.

“Without my deflection of a pass in the final play of the game, the Turner Ashby quarterback would have thrown another touchdown, which would have led to triple overtime,” said Carter. “So making that deflection in the end of the game made me feel great.”

This win brought the ‘Cats season record to 4-2. On Oct. 5, the ‘Cats lost to Harrisonburg 77-49, but defeated Waynesboro 70-14 on Oct. 12. Progressing to the rest of the season, the ‘Cats football team plays two more games against Spotswood on Oct.19 and Broadway on Nov. 2, and then continues to the playoffs.

“Our goal for the rest of the season is to host a home game during the playoffs, and to win the playoffs,” said Poston.

]]>https://rchsprowler.com/sports/2018/10/19/cats-clinch-a-win-at-the-shenandoah-classic/feed/0Young Life Holds Annual Paint Warhttps://rchsprowler.com/features/2018/10/16/young-life-holds-annual-paint-war-2/
https://rchsprowler.com/features/2018/10/16/young-life-holds-annual-paint-war-2/#respondTue, 16 Oct 2018 16:19:44 +0000https://rchsprowler.com/?p=3491 This year, Rockbridge Young Life held their seventh annual Paint War. It took place on Sept. 10 at a field next to Life Chapel, on Hines Lane.
Young Life is an international Christian organization which seeks to bring together young high school students by their faith. The group is formed of high school students aged 14 to 18. Throughout the school year, Young Life holds club meetings, where they hold playful competitions and discuss sections from the bible. The Rockbridge County Young Life club is led by club leaders who are mostly W&L students. Rockbridge Area Director Quinton Knott has been a part of the Young Life organization for four years and enjoys how it connects people in Rockbridge County.
“We’re a group that is building community alongside the Rockbridge County High School,” said Knott.
Students, such as junior Cole Cathcart, join Young Life to strengthen their faith and establish connections among other students.
“Young Life to me is a great opportunity to spend time with friends, to have new experiences, such as the Paint War, and to have opportunities to hear the messages that are spoken at Young Life about Jesus,” said Cathcart.
The Paint War is held to bring more members to Young Life and establish the start of Young Life club meetings in the Rockbridge County district for the 2018-2019 school year.
“We do the Paint War because I feel like it’s the easiest event to invite anybody to, especially freshmen who’ve never been to a Young Life event before,” said Knott. “It’s always a week before our first club, so it’s just a great way to kick off the year.”
The event started with a dizzy bat competition: a game where the students run to a spot, pick up a baseball bat, hold the bat to their heads, and put the other end of the bat on the ground. Then they spin around in circles ten times and afterwards try to run back to their starting point.
“ I hate Dizzy Bat, but you gotta do what you gotta do to represent your grade when it comes to competition,” said Cathcart.
After Dizzy Bat, the main events took place. The first event was a colorful powder throwing game, followed up by the second event of the paint throwing.
“Each grade gets a different color, and you try and get as much of your color on the other teams as possible. So if everyone ends up being blue, then you know the blue team won,” said Young Life leader Ella Rose. “Blue is always seniors, which is the strongest color”.
This year Rose attended the paint war alongside her fellow Young Life leaders, such as Knott.
“This is my third paint war, which is pretty exciting. It’s a fun way to get students together at the beginning of the school year to all have fun and throw paint at each other,” said Rose.
Senior Hannah Mayr enjoyed participating in the Paint War.
“My favorite part is probably just running through paint and getting to find people and cover them in paint, but also the pictures at the end,” said Mayr.
Many of the Young Life members take photos at the end of the Young Life event, showing themselves drenched in paint.
“I’m in charge of taking before and after shots, so everyone is wearing white at first,” said Rose. “Then everyone leaves super messy and crazy and colorful.”
The Paint War is meant to represent the fun and creative club meetings of Young Life, as it is an exciting event unique to Young Life.
“We like to have fun, and we like to have anybody here who wants to have fun, and I feel like there’s nothing more fun than throwing paint at each other and looking pretty awesome afterwards,” said Knott.
The Paint War is an example of the type of competitions held at Young Life club meetings.
“Young Life is always up for having good, clean fun. I guess the Paint War is not very clean, but good and clean in the sense that it’s fun and all allowed,” said Mayr. “Also, they’re just kind of wild.”
]]>https://rchsprowler.com/features/2018/10/16/young-life-holds-annual-paint-war-2/feed/0Moore’s Military Memorieshttps://rchsprowler.com/features/2018/10/16/moores-military-memories/
https://rchsprowler.com/features/2018/10/16/moores-military-memories/#respondTue, 16 Oct 2018 16:03:04 +0000https://rchsprowler.com/?p=3484By Beckett Howe
Many people go into the military for the honor of defending the country. Retired Staff Sergeant Dennis Moore joined to serve because he wanted a change in life.
“I was 29; I wasn’t married; I didn’t have anything going on except my career as a teacher,” said Moore. “It was not quite two years after 9/11, and my family always served in war-time. My dad was in Vietnam; my grandfather was in World War II as well as Korea; we had a relative in the Civil War, so it was one of those things that I thought was the appropriate thing to do, serving the country in the time of need,” said Moore.
Along with those reasons, Moore said: “I was also very interested in the military, and I got to the point where I can either not join and never have any experience about it, or I could jump right in and do something good,” said Moore.
“I was a Staff Sergeant in the army reserves as a Military Police, or MP for short, in Iraq and basically, I was a prison guard. I was trained a lot like a police officer would be, like the whole law and order kinds of things,” said Moore. “Military Police were also trained to escort convoys, as well as do detainee operations. There were also protective services, but that was a rare job to get,” said Moore.
“The most interesting job that I’ve been on was a protective services mission. We were protecting the commanding general and members of the command group of Army Central Command, which was in charge of logistics and movement patterns of troops and gear. We were deployed in Kuwait and some of us traveled,” said Moore.
“I traveled to Afghanistan and Iraq. That mission was interesting, like I said, because it was a rare mission to get, and we had to go through protective services training school, which was the most intense training I’ve ever been in because it was like secret service-type training,” said Moore.
Many people who come out of the military had to struggle with finding a job because they had difficulty adjusting to the common “civilian life”. Moore, however, was one of the lucky few who did not have to struggle.
“First off, I chose to go into the reserves for that reason, so I could hold a civilian career as well as help the country,” said Moore. “Not only that, but I like history, so it was a win-win when I was offered to teach here.”
]]>https://rchsprowler.com/features/2018/10/16/moores-military-memories/feed/0Islomiddin Turdumatovhttps://rchsprowler.com/features/2018/10/16/islomiddin-turdumatov/
https://rchsprowler.com/features/2018/10/16/islomiddin-turdumatov/#respondTue, 16 Oct 2018 15:54:46 +0000https://rchsprowler.com/?p=3480Born in Dushanbe, the capital of the Central Asian country of Tajikistan, junior foreign exchange student Islomiddin Turdumatov hopes to become an ambassador for Tajikistan in the future. Turdumatov hopes to work in diplomacy and international affairs, and views his time in America as a valuable chance to further his experiences and help him towards this goal.
On enrolling at RCHS, Turdumatov was initially astounded at the liberty he was allowed in customizing his own schedule, as in his home country students were not allowed to do this and were instead required to study each subject. This allowed him to fill his schedule with classes he enjoys, such as English, creative writing, and theatre/arts exploration classes at RCHS, all of which help him to improve his English. Turdumatov harbors a deep appreciation for language and the connections it can build between people.
“Language is a key part of any family, community, culture, and the human race,” said Turdumatov. “The ability to speak, read, write and understand more than one language is also remarkable and expands the liberties in life, especially for young people.”
Through studying devotedly for five hours each day, Turdumatov is now able to speak conversationally in English, Russian, Kyrgyz, Uzbek, Kazakh, Iranian, Tajik, and Persian, and appreciates the opportunity America affords him to practice his English.
Turdumatov looks forward to returning home and sharing his experiences with others in his country.
“Throughout the month,” said Turdumatov, “I met a lot of good people, and I hope after finishing school to go to my home country and make presentations about US schools and share my knowledge with them.”
]]>https://rchsprowler.com/features/2018/10/16/islomiddin-turdumatov/feed/0Model UN Breakfasts Held to Expand Membershiphttps://rchsprowler.com/features/2018/10/16/model-un-breakfasts-held-to-expand-membership/
https://rchsprowler.com/features/2018/10/16/model-un-breakfasts-held-to-expand-membership/#respondTue, 16 Oct 2018 15:25:51 +0000https://rchsprowler.com/?p=3477The Model United Nations Club is expanding its activity within the school by holding breakfasts on Tuesdays, every other week.
“They’re a part of an effort to increase opportunities for members to grow in their confidence,” said senior Caroline McCain, one of the Model UN Student Chairs.
McCain feels that the breakfasts will help members to become better prepared for future debates.
“It’s a way for people to learn more about issues and learn both sides before they show up to debates,” said McCain. “At each meeting, one of the leaders will give a presentation on a topic relevant to one of our upcoming events. This way they’ll have prior knowledge and be able to form a foundation.”
As of right now, the breakfasts meetings are scheduled to be every other Tuesday in Room 104.
“They’re going to start around 8:00 before school,” said McCain. “We’re going to provide snack food breakfast items like donuts every week, but not a full on breakfast.”
McCain hopes that the breakfast will help increase club interest by creating an easier time to participate.
“I think they’re important to the club because there are a lot of people who are interested in the club who are just so busy on weekends that they’re not able to come to simulation sessions,” said McCain. “It gives them an opportunity to participate when they wouldn’t normally be able to.”
She also feels that the sessions will make regular club meetings seem less intimidating to potential members.
“I’m hoping they’ll remove some of the pressure involved with the club, because it can be kind of intimidating when you hear the words ‘debate’ and ‘current events,’” said McCain. “If you don’t know what’s happening, you might feel pretty intimidated. I think they’re a good way to remove some of the fears surrounding the club.”
]]>https://rchsprowler.com/features/2018/10/16/model-un-breakfasts-held-to-expand-membership/feed/0Hillary Camdenhttps://rchsprowler.com/features/2018/10/16/hillary-camden/
https://rchsprowler.com/features/2018/10/16/hillary-camden/#respondTue, 16 Oct 2018 13:13:44 +0000https://rchsprowler.com/?p=3471By: Sophia Carlucci
Hillary Camden is a new guidance counselor this year coming from Buena Vista. This is Camden’s first year being a guidance counselor. Camden received her undergraduate diploma at Radford University in interdisciplinary studies for middle school education and attended Liberty University online for her master’s of education degree in school counseling. Before deciding to come to Rockbridge, Camden taught sixth grade language arts at Parry McCluer Middle School in Buena Vista, VA.
“I grew up in Rockbridge so RCHS was close to home. Rockbridge is also a great place to be,” said Camden.
Camden is enjoying RCHS, however, it has taken her some getting used to.
“I am really enjoying it here. Everyone has been really nice. The hardest part about this transition was learning the ways of a new school,” said Camden.
Some of Camden’s duties as guidance counselor are helping students with their class schedules, college applications, and socially and emotionally helping students. Camden is looking forward to this school year.
“I am excited about being at Rockbridge and I am looking forward to many more years here,” said Camden.
]]>https://rchsprowler.com/features/2018/10/16/hillary-camden/feed/0Kirby Moves Closer to Homehttps://rchsprowler.com/features/2018/10/15/kirby-moves-closer-to-home/
https://rchsprowler.com/features/2018/10/15/kirby-moves-closer-to-home/#respondTue, 16 Oct 2018 02:53:59 +0000https://rchsprowler.com/?p=3469This is Michelle Kirby’s first year at RCHS, but it is not her first time teaching. This special education instructor has taught for 13 years, and she is happy to spend her fourteenth year in Rockbridge County.
“I grew up here, I live here, so it was just kind of getting closer to home,” said Kirby. “My kids go to school in Rockbridge schools, so that was kind of a bonus.”
Kirby went to Radford University, where she got degrees in health education as well as special education.
Kirby enjoys teaching at RCHS because of her students.
“They’re a lot of fun to work with and get to know,” said Kirby. “This group especially has a lot of different personalities, but it works.”
Overall, Kirby is looking forward to her first year teaching at RCHS.
]]>https://rchsprowler.com/features/2018/10/15/kirby-moves-closer-to-home/feed/0Zequigyu Travels From Chinahttps://rchsprowler.com/profiles/2018/10/11/zequigyu-travels-from-china/
https://rchsprowler.com/profiles/2018/10/11/zequigyu-travels-from-china/#respondThu, 11 Oct 2018 15:33:01 +0000https://rchsprowler.com/?p=3466Junior Huo “Curtis” Zequigyu is a new exchange student attending RCHS from Sichuan, China. Zequigyu currently resides with his host father, Michael Ross. Zequigyu’s main reason for traveling to the U.S. is his enjoyment of the film industry.
“I decided to come to America because I wanted to learn about film and movies, so I knew America is the best,” said Zequigyu.
Back home, Zequigyu’s parents work in the film industry.
“They’re a really nice family for making movies,” said Zequigyu.
Since his arrival, Zequigyu has experienced many differences from his old school.
“This school is a lot different than in China,” said Zequigyu. “There is a lot more freedom here and we get to choose our own classes.”
The students at his old school are not allowed to bring their phones to school. They also do not choose the classes they take. His previous classmates also have to attend different classes every day.
One of Zequigyu’s favorite classes this year is strength training. He also plans to join the boys basketball team later on in the fall of this year.
“I want to try out for the basketball club or the team,” said Zequigyu.
After spending his first few weeks at RCHS, Zequigyu’s main dislike is the lunch.
“The lunches aren’t as good as I expected them to be,” said Zequigyu.
After Zequigyu graduates high school, he wants to go to college in America, studying film and movies.
]]>https://rchsprowler.com/profiles/2018/10/11/zequigyu-travels-from-china/feed/0Senior Athlete Profileshttps://rchsprowler.com/profiles/2018/07/22/senior-athlete-profiles/
https://rchsprowler.com/profiles/2018/07/22/senior-athlete-profiles/#respondMon, 23 Jul 2018 01:02:27 +0000https://rchsprowler.com/?p=3403As the academic year and spring season comes to a close, many seniors will face the end of their athletic careers. However some ‘Cats will continue to play the sports they love at the collegiate level. Seniors Dalton Benson, Haley Cruz, Keely Doyle, Malik Dunn, Allie Fields, Grace Huffman, Mallory Keeley, Ben Rhodenizer, Kacie Shifflet Maria Vargas, and Reeves Whitmore, will all have the opportunity to further their athletic careers at various colleges and universities in the 2018-2019 school year.

Keeley Doyle

Keely Doyle played middle hitter for the ‘Cats’ volleyball team and will be moving on to play at Emory and Henry College next year. She has played volleyball for eight years and has accumulated several awards while playing at RCHS. In her junior season, Doyle was named to the second team all conference and all district, and as a senior she received first team all conference honors, as well as second team all district. Doyle’s favorite memory from her time playing volleyball for the ‘Cats is winning the valley district championship in her senior season.

Ben Rhodenizer

Ben Rhodenizer has played football since he was in second grade and filled the role of starting quarterback for the Wildcats’ football team since his sophomore year. In the fall he will move on to play for the Shenandoah University Hornets. Rhodenizer had an accomplished career at Rockbridge and collected many accolades during his years playing for the ‘Cats. In addition to become the RCHS all time leader in passing yards, touchdowns, and completion percentage, Rhodenizer has been recognized as the Valley District Player of the Year, and First Team All-Timesland quarterback. Rhodenizer’s favorite game at RCHS was the 2017 Homecoming game against Turner Ashby, where he threw for six touchdowns and over 450 yards

Dalton Benson

Senior baseball player Dalton Benson will move on to Wilmington College in Ohio where he will pitch for the Fighting Quakers.

He has played baseball for most of his life and is excited to have the opportunity to continue his career.

“I have been playing baseball ever since I was little and able to join t-ball,” said Benson.

Benson enjoyed playing for Rockbridge because of the many friendships that he made on the team.

“My favorite memory from playing at RCHS is just being around my teammates and having fun playing the game, the bus rides home and to games, just always having fun,” said Benson.

Reeves Whitmore

Reeves Evelyn Whitmore committed to play baseball at Virginia Military Institute for the 2019 season. Whitmore has played baseball since he was six years old and played at Rockbridge for five years, spending the last three on the varsity team. Whitmore is a decorated athlete who has collected a plethora of awards during his years as a Wildcat. He is a three time All-District and All-Conference pitcher and shortstop, and in 2017 was named a Heritage Invitational All Tournament Player.

Whitmore considers himself a team player and is willing to play any position that the Keydets might need him to fill.

“It really doesn’t matter to me. Any position they need me to fill. Hopefully infield, but whatever really,” said Whitmore.

This season Whitmore played his most memorable game against the Turner Ashby Knights. He led the ‘Cats to defeat the Knights with a two-run home run in the second inning.

Malik Dunn

Malik Dunn committed to play football for Virginia Military Institute. He began playing football many years ago and has loved the sport ever since.“Since flag football, about seven or eight years old,” said Dunn.

At VMI Dunn will play as a defensive back and a punt returner. He has had a lot of success as a high school player and earned 2nd team honors as a defensive back and wide receiver in 2016 and 2017, as well as first team honors as defensive back in 2017.

Some of Dunn’s favorite memories came from his senior season when he was able to beat a rival team and make a run at the playoffs.

“Beating PM this year, and having a winning season. As well as making it to the state playoffs for the first time since 2012,” said Dunn.